Nuns on the Stepford Wives

Something strange is happening in Stepford.

This week, after a LONG, unnecessary hiatus, I am returning with my own take on a horror/sci-fi film. The Stepford Wives (The 1975 version) starring Katherine Ross and Paula Prentiss each known for their work in The Graduate and Catch-22 respectively.

I’d heard the tagline before, and was always interested in what it meant exactly, now I know. I should state early on, that I have not watched the 2004 version with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick, this is a view of the original. Someday there will be a response to the remake as well.

Stepford is the stereotypical suburban town that everyone dreamed of living in during the times of Leave it to Beaver and I Love Lucy. It’s a sheltered town that people either really enjoy, or would hate living in or around. The film even makes fun of itself with the lines;

“Have you heard? A negro family is moving into town! It’s a good thing right? Oh, of course it’s a good thing! Stepford is one of the most liberal towns around!”

“Liberal? Stepford?!”

“Well of course! We were the first community to get a Chinese Restaurant in the county!”

This film IS a horror/sci-fi, no doubts about it. It starts off good and fun, but once the movie gets rolling and the family moves from New York to Stepford, the soundtrack takes on a new vibe and gives off the typical synth driven horror sounds that became popular in the 70s.

There is something strange happening in Stepford as once the family gets to Stepford, Joanna’s (Ross) husband gets invited to join the Men’s Association of Stepford and begins spending more and more nights away from home. Then the other members of the Men’s Association begin paying more and more attention to Joanna. First one of the members, a renowned artist, draws a perfect portrait of Joanna, next she is introduced to a member called Dis as he used to work for Disney Theme Parks who studies her every move and nuance as she moves around the house and town. Finally she is asked by one of the members to read a long list of words under the pretences that he is an accent enthusiast who likes to have recordings of all of his friends so he can get to know their accents as well as his own.

Not much more can be said without giving away the mystery of Stepford. Suffice it to say, the movie is incredibly well shot, as well as having a great cast and script to go along with it.

Once the creep factor sets in, we’re shown a lot of the typical Dutch angles used in horror films to show more dramatic views of the protagonists. As well as putting the main character of a scene in the ‘power position’ on the right side of the screen while having them look off to the right of the screen leaving an open doorway, or ominous shadows occupying a majority of the leftover screen. This happened time and time again, and when coupled with the synth music makes the viewer a lot more nervous for what could happen next.

This film is not just a film for film junkies like myself, it is well written, well shot, well directed, well produced, etc. It was a blockbuster in its day and continues to have a large cult following even today. It should be stated that ‘cult’ film does not mean the movie didn’t do well in the box office and was subsequently discovered by film nerds who found something to relate to as is the case with Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is really a great movie that stretches the imagination to the sci-fi realm of men wanting to have the perfect wives. Ira Levin who is an amazing screenwriter and has written hundreds of plays that have been made into films wrote the Stepford Wives. If you do watch this, and enjoy it, you need to check out Deathtrap starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeves (A review of which will be coming up soon) and the film the Boys from Brazil in which a group of escaped Nazis try to rekindle the Third Reich by cloning Hitler.

In a final statement, watch this film. You won’t regret it. It’s an amazingly well done movie, another in a LONG list that had no reason to be remade. But it was, and as I said before, it will be reviewed, we’ll see the contrast and comparison soon.

The Crazies (2010)

I love horror films, but recently it seems like I can’t find one that doesn’t feature vampires.  I’m actually putting a review for The King’s Speech on the back burner to write this review.  While I love stuttering royalty as much as the next guy, the Academy Award winning film failed to scare me or make me jump once.  There’s a gleeful simplicity in horror films.  They’re movies about evolution; survival of the fittest and the smartest, even against overwhelming odds.  That’s what I was look for and what I found.

The Crazies stars Timothy Olyphant as the sheriff of a small Iowa town.  The citizens have little to worry about, maybe a mohawked poacher every now and then, but life is pretty simple. Then the townsfolk slowly start acting a little bizarre, repeating phrases and staring aimlessly at the stretching landscape.  Then the crazy starts to creep through in murderous ways - the afflicted kill without remorse or discretion.  Suddenly, the carefree sheriff is dealing with rising violence, sleepless nights, and mysterious black SUVs.  It doesn’t take long for the situation to spin out of control and he’s left to defend his family against the hoards of psychotic denizens who had voted him into office.

One thing I’ve learned for horror movies: Don’t be stupid.  The movie starts out so good.  The sheriff doesn’t ever go anywhere without his gun drawn, he doesn’t wander blindly through the town, in fact, he seems to figure out what happening long before anyone else.  Then he starts to get dumb.  Now maybe it’s the pressure or the tiredness, but halfway through he movie he starts leaving his wife unattended while he goes and explores darkened buildings by himself.  Sure he makes the usual mistakes, but if you can forgive the hero from falling prey to these standard horror film pitfalls you’ll still enjoy this movie.

A good horror movie can take some of the most pedestrian things and make them frightening.  Like how Jaws made you afraid of the water, or Nightmare on Elm Street made you afraid to sleep, or I Know What You Did Last Summer made you afraid of running over hobos and dumping their bodies in the ocean.  The Crazies takes car washes and makes them scary in the best way.  I’ll never go to Jet Splash without thinking about this movie.  I also have developed a fear of farming equipment.  It seems that every farming tool is designed for the dismemberment and disemboweling of unsuspecting bystanders.

I started watching this movie because I wanted something light and fun.  I was a little surprised to find I loved it; a horror gem.  It’s not The Exorcist or 28 Days Later, but it’s good.  If you’re a horror fan, you don’t want to miss this one.  It can get a little graphic at times, but in the age of torture porn it’s pretty tame - there aren’t any drawn out, painful-to-watch kills; just a lot of tension and a lot of fun. The acting is solid, the directing is good and the story is engrossing.  It makes me want to check out the original which is directed by George Romero (he produced the 2010 version.)  Best part: it’s on Instant Netflix, so you can watch it this weekend.  The only thing that The Crazies was missing.  Vampires.  Here’s hoping there’s a sequel.

The Crazies (2010)

Directed by: Breck Eisner

Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, and Joe Anderson

The Nuns "In Bruges"

In Bruges

That's one thing I like about Europe, though. You don't have to learn any of their languages.  - Ray

In Bruges is a British comedy/action film about two hitmen waiting in the last medieval city in the world.  They aren’t sure what they’re waiting for, either their next job or punishment for sins.  The two men handle the waiting differently.  Ken(Brendan Gleeson) relaxes; enjoying the tourist sights and marveling at the city and what’s included within.  Ray(Colin Farrell), the younger of the men, can’t stand Bruges, he spends his days getting pissed, waving at midgets on horse tranquilizers, and hitting on or offending the locals, Americans, Canadians and anyone he comes in contact with.

The movie itself is brash, unapologetically offensive, and graphic.  If you’re easily offended, hate swearing and don’t want to see Americans depicted as fat, Yankees-cap-wearing assholes, then skip this film.  However, if you have thick skin, a good sense of humor, a love for dark comedy then pick this film up and enjoy the witty banter.  It’s terribly hilarious and grotesquely saddening.  Be warned: for all its humor the movie’s far from feel good.

The movie is an absurd satire of a million things I couldn’t even begin to address and I’d hate to spoil for you.  It is heavy on themes, which you’ll see me talk about often.  I blame it on the over-thinking, lit major inside me.  The movie deals primarily with nobility and honor.  While these men murder for a living those two ideals are paramount to their understanding of the world.  Each man is torment by the innocent men that they’ve killed while on the job. The biggest question posed during the movie: Is redemption possible?

I watch In Bruges at least once a year, it’s on a select list of films with Brick and Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang and Mallrats.  The reason it made this list is because of how engaging the characters are.  

Characters seem easy to create.  Until you try to write one.  As a failing writer, I’ve tried to write compelling and different characters that draw the reader, or viewer, in -  I can’t.  They’re always the same person, just with a different hat.  Not the case with In Bruges, every single person who steps into frame is given a personality and traits that belong to them alone.  Even throwaway characters, like the guy who sells them guns, is developed and fleshed out in the two minutes he’s on the screen.  Every character is lovable in their own right and each one unique, it is easy to see their motivations and drivers in a natural way that I can only hope to someday imitate.

In Bruges has everything I like in a movie.  It’s ideal for people who love witty dialogue, action, and racist dwarfs.  It’s a fun film, with a depth that most don’t have and it’s one of my all time favorites.

After you get done watching it you might find yourself wanting to be in Bruges.  If only you knew where it was.

-Josh

In Bruges (IMDB)

Directed by:Martin McDonagh

Starring:Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes

The Social Network - Opinion

This isn't a review of The Social Network.  I just want to explain how it changed my opinion on biopics.

I remember very distinctly what I thought when I first saw the commercial for The Social Network. It was ridiculous that they were already making a movie about it.  The ink had barely dried on the checks Zuckerberg wrote to settle and they had already made a movie about it.  We were going to relive in two hours what had just been chronicled in a year of news print.

I believed that you can’t make a “historical” film when the people are alive. They shouldn’t make movies about people until we’ve had time to collect all the facts and to sift through the bullshit. They shouldn’t make a movie about the youngest billionaire until he’s been dethroned, or at least until he’s grown up.

But that’s not the world that we live in.  This is the Facebook era and we don’t wait until someone dies to do a retrospective on their life.  We report congruently with the events, at the click of a button. You can watch parties in real-time as people check in, post pictures and update statuses, a whole night uploaded and digested even before everyone goes home or passes out.  

I have no idea if that was the intent of the filmmakers, but they pointed out that I was guilty of the old way of thinking, that you have to wait until tomorrow to get today’s news. It wouldn’t have made sense for them to make this movie in ten years, by then it would be old news and we would have already moved on.

-Josh

Nuns on a Bus Vs Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

When I'm around you, I kind of feel like I'm on drugs. Not that I do drugs. Unless you do drugs, in which case I do them all the time. All of them. – Scott Pilgrim

Love is a many splendored thing. Sometimes love comes easy, sometimes you have to fight the memories of your current love’s exes. Even though you’ve never met them, you still feel like you’re being compared to them, for a little while at the very least. Sometimes you have to fight off these memories in your mind, sometimes it becomes painfully obvious that you’ll have to fight them in real life and fight them hard. Thus it is when Scott Pilgrim meets the love of his life, Ramona Flowers. Little do we know when Ramona first rollerblades through our protagonist’s dreams that Scott’s life will be completely flipped around.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World written and directed by Edgar Wright based on the comic by Bryan Lee O’Malley and starring; Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick, and Aubrey Plaza. This movie is to young actors what the Ocean's movies are to the generation before them - a superb ensemble film that highlights the best parts about each of the actors.

I know a few people that can not stand Michael Cera. I can understand this, he doesn’t have a whole lot of depth as an actor. If you’ve seen Arrested Development or Super Bad you’ve seen the range in his acting. But the great thing about SPVTW is it works, and it works well. The written character of Scott Pilgrim isn’t the coolest kid, he’s actually quite slow (seeming) but when the going gets tough, this bad ass bass player pumps up the jam and takes aim at the goal! Although he will probably forget what the goal is about fifteen seconds later.

Scott lives with his gay friend Wallace Wells played by Kieran Culkin. Wallace is a gossipy little bitch who is always quick to spread any rumor he hears about Scott off to Scott’s sister Stacey, who is played by the lovely Anna Kendrick, who is always quick to give Scott a good earful. Scott is also in the band, Sex Bob-omb, as previously mentioned, he plays bass. His ex-girlfriend Kim plays drums while his other friend Steven Stills, the talent, plays guitar. They aren’t really good, and the cool thing about the comics is the fact that most of their songs are written out so you can play along!

Through friends of his band-mates Scott’s motley crew end up at a party held by Julie Powers, Aubrey Plaza of Parks and Rec fame, where he sees the girl who roller bladed through his dreams twice, Ramona Flowers. After a couple of horribly awkward conversations with Ramona, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she finally agrees to go on a date with him.

Fast forward a few minutes in the film and we get our first encounter with one of Ramona’s evil exes. Apparently her seven evil exes have combined forces under the leadership of Gideon, Jason Schwartzman, to get rid of Scott and have Ramona go back to Gideon.

This is where the movie becomes EPIC, early reviews of Scott Pilgrim bashed it for being another video game movie. They were right, it is a video game movie! But it doesn’t try to hide the fact that it is campy as hell but it’s based on a comic, not a game. It’s not Laura Croft, it’s not Super Mario Bros (awesome movie btw), it’s not Resident Evil. It’s a comic movie that follows more faithfully than almost any movie I’ve ever seen. (Personally I see it as a close second to 300 when it comes to movies based on comics in terms of faithfulness.)

SPVTW is a video game movie because they exploit all the things that make games great and shove them in the audiences face. From baddies turning into piles of coins, to 1-ups popping up, to crazy animatics enhancing every sound effect, to the main character getting +10 Charisma and +10 Self Esteem when he finds the power of love.

You couldn’t ask for a better director/writer for this film. Edgar Wright has proved his ability to do amazing work with genre movies with Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and his TV show Spaced. He understood the necessity of being faithful to the comics much in the way that Zack Snyder was with Watchmen and 300. But he was also smart enough to cut out the parts that bogged down the story at the rare times that occurred. Much unlike Zack Snyder with Watchmen.

We haven’t seen the last of Edgar Wright, and hopefully he is able to find another comic or video game to convert to film.

Out of a ten point rating scale, I would give Scott Pilgrim Vs The World a strong 7. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh, who isn’t afraid to cry, and take the tongue in cheek comedy that a Canadian comic turned film can offer.

-Karl

Quick Hits! 2/4/11

Looking for something to watch this weekend?

In no particular order I suggest:
1. Moon (Sam Rockwell)
2. Brick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
3. The Trotsky (Jay Baruchel)
4. Castle [TV] - (Nathan Fillion)
5. Firefly [TV] - (Nathan Fillion)

The Trotsky is up on Instant Netflix and is worth checking out.

Have a good weekend!

-Josh

Flipped

“It’s really dark and brooding.  You’ll love it,” Erik, when suggesting a movie to me.

He was right, I love movies with sad endings and the depressing guy-loses-girl tales.  I’ve always found happy,cheery movies to be naive and unrealistic.  That’s why I want my first review to be about Flipped, it isn't anything like my usual films.

At it’s heart Flipped is a simple love story.  At a very young age Bryce and his family move across the street from Juli.  It’s love at first sight for Juli, but for Bryce, not so much.  He does everything he can to not have to talk to her.

And then in 8th grade that all starts to change.  Feelings begin to, wait for it...flip.  Yeah, that’s right.  Bryce starts to find he has feelings for Juli and Juli begins to think Bryce lacks real character.

That’s what happens, what drives the story, but that’s really just the surface of things.  There’s so much more below that.  The themes and characters in this film are deep.  The most prominent theme in the film is a question, “What makes someone a good person?”  Everyone in this film asks and answers this question.  It’s behind what makes Juli cool toward Bryce and Bryce flip. The film questions how much would some one give up for family, examines the beauty of art and in one scene we see a heartless father question his choice of giving up the music he loved for something he doesn’t really seem to enjoy.

Children actors frighten me.  Macaulay Culkin, Haley Joel Osment, that kid from the Omen - you know the kids I’m talking about.  They’ve all got that plaster look on their faces and feel like little people pretending to be adults, pretending to be kids.  It’s weird.  I was blown away by the kids who have the two leading roles in this film (Not sure if they are they as good as the girl from True Grit, but they didn’t get the opportunity to steal a scene from Jeff Bridges.)  I found myself captivated by the story.  Every step along the way it felt real, because of these two.  Bryce played by Callan McAuliffe sometimes falters but Julie, Madeline Carroll, carries him through each scene.  From what I’ve seen it’s pretty hard to find good child actors and this movie showcases some of the best I’ve seen in a while.

So who’s this for?  I recommend this to everyone.  It’s one of the few PG movies we’ll probably review so there’s very little offensive material here.  It’s the kind of film you could recommend to your parents, or watch with your kids depending on where you’re at in the whole life cycle thing.  It’s a film with humor, serious subject matter, believable characters, a good story and actual heart.  It’s occasionally preachy and sometimes overly sentimental. I didn’t think it detracts from the value of the film as It’s set in a very sentimental and overly optimistic time: the 1950’s . It’s worth checking out, no matter what kind of movies you like.  Sometimes it’s OK to be happy.  Just don’t get carried away.

Enjoy

-Josh

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss; but every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and once you do, nothing will ever compare.”  Chet Duncan (John Mahoney), Flipped (2010)

Flipped (2010)
Directed by Rob Reiner
Staring: Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe
Trailer: Flipped

I like the poster for this movie.  It’s one you should look at after the film is done to get how good it is.